Best Country Album award finalist 2013
New Zealand artist Donna Dean has stuck to what she does best: writing
songs and performing them, and
earning the respect of her peers,
while achieving industry esteem by
twice winning the Tui Award for Best
Country Album for “What Am I Gonna Do?” (2011) and “Money” (2004), and
twice winning the APRA Award for Best Country Song for “What Am I
Gonna Do?” (2011) and “Work It Out” (2004). Since her “Destination Life” CD was released in 1998, Donna has gone on to release five more, and her seventh, “Tyre Tracks & Broken Hearts”, (released December 2012) has just been nominated for a New Zealand Tui Award for Best Country Album 2013.
This new album was produced by John Egenes with basic tracks recorded in Dunedin, (N.Z) and features musicians from New Zealand and around the world. It includes notables such as guitarists Amos Garrett (Ian & Sylvia, Paul Butterfield, Stevie Wonder, Todd Rundgren, Emmylou Harris, Maria Muldaur, Bonnie Raitt), Redd Volkaert (Merle Haggard, Buck Owens, Commander Cody, Seymour Duncan, Neko Case),Albert Lee (Emmylou Harris, Eric Clapton, Rodney Crowell, Jackson Browne, Everly Brothers, Joe Cocker), Rob Bird-‐Robinson (Michael Martin Murphy, Eliza Gilkyson, Bill and Bonnie Hearne), and multi-‐instrumentalist Gurf Morlix (Lucinda Williams, Robert Earl Keen, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Ian McLagan, Warren Zevon).
“Tyre Tracks” follows her award winning “What Am I Gonna Do?” CD. Her song, “Destination Life”, was the title track for Rhonda Vincent’s 2010 Grammy nominated album. She has recorded with The Amazing Rhythm Aces and has worked alongside artists such as Don McLean, Spooner Oldham, Willie Nelson, Burt Jansch, Eric Taylor, and Terry Allen, and Donna remains firmly planted within the Americana genre, with a Kiwi twist.
“Not many artists have the imaginations of a Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen…She is that artist that the famous, accomplished artists in attendance would stop and listen to…”John Apice, No Depression
“A country songwriter of great depth…a motel room late at night when the blue light from television, as silent as the night sky, casts a lonely glow…Dean is a writer with something to say.”Graham Reid, Elsewhere
“…The proof is in the music. Donna is one of the best country singers not from the United States. She remains an artist the naive American country media (and audience maybe) have yet discover. And this is despite a slow concentrated build in popularity by the ears who have been fortunate to hear this marvelous voice.”
No Depression
“Donna Dean is a true New Zealand hidden treasure, a bounty that’s about to be discovered by the rest of the world. Her songs are little pictures that live in between the cracks, in those small places we all recognize as part of ourselves.They take us down the backroads of our lives, away from the crowded highways of mainstream music. This is Kiwiana at its best”
John Egenes, Producer
Released on Raven BARC Music label
Tyre Tracks & Broken Hearts
No Depression Review
Donna must know by now that this work is good and it’s satisfying – something she can be proud of. Does all this stand up to her previous award-winning album? Does “Nebraska” by Bruce stand up to “Born To Run” ? March 2013 read more
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"She is that artist that the famous, accomplished artists in attendance would stop and listen to" .No Depression
Listen to Radio Live host Mike King talking about life shaping events with Donna on
2011 AWARD WINNING ALBUM
RIANZ (Recording Industry Association New Zealand) managing director Chris Caddick said, “My sincere congratulations to Donna, who has crafted a truly
exceptional album with ‘What Am I Gonna Do?’. Here’s hoping the Tui
Award helps the album reach the wide audience it deserves.”
